MDB 51: Exodus 26

26:1 "You shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns; you shall make them with cherubim skillfully worked into them."

The chapters from Exodus set for this week's readings give us a very detailed account of how the Israelites were expected to build and decorate the tabernacle, their place of worship in the desert. Today when we read this, we are somewhat puzzled, not knowing how to relate it to our own lives. The tabernacle was the forerunner of the temple that Solomon later built in Jerusalem, and our bodies are temples in which the Holy Spirit dwells. This is the key to understanding how Exodus 26 applies to us.

In building the tabernacle, no detail is too small to be overlooked. There is nothing about us that God does not care about. Everything we have belongs to him and must be consecrated to his service. What we offer him is precious and should be presented with the greatest possible care. Not a hair of our head is uncounted, and God wants us to be our best for him at all times.  But we are not left on our own - he is present in and among us. The Israelites were told to weave cherubim - the angels of God - into their design, and this is true of us too. God must be seen in every part of our lives, and whatever we do, it must glorify him. Everything in this chapter speaks to us about keeping the right proportion and perspective - we must ensure that what we do is appropriate to the service that we owe him, and see it all from his standpoint. Some things we do are highly visible but other things are concealed and hidden from view. Yet often it is the hidden things that are more important, because it is they that support the superstructure that others can see. That is why we are told to build on firm foundations, glorifying God in the secret thins, so that what others see will point them towards him and his gracious working in our lives.